Like many car enthusiasts, I’ve spent much of the year in keen anticipation of the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. I first saw one in the flesh at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Collector-Car Auction in January and it was clear that if nothing else, Chevrolet had a winning design to the new, seventh-generation Corvette, or C7, as it’s known.

Still, until you get behind the wheel, you don’t really know for sure whether that beauty goes beyond skin deep. I’m happy to report that in the case of the new Corvette, the beauty goes way, way beyond skin deep. In fact, Chevrolet has dialed up a true world-class sports car free of qualifiers. No longer does one describe the Corvette by saying, “It’s a great car, but …” It’s simply a great car.

The things people complained in Corvettes past — second-rate interiors, punishing ride, workmanship that was just adequate — those are all gone.

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg was fastest in the second practice for Formula 1′s season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix on Friday, edging Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber on a wet Interlagos track.

Vettel, who has already clinched his fourth straight F1 title, enters the finale with a chance to equal Michael Schumacher’s 13 victories in a year and match the record of nine consecutive wins by Alberto Ascari in the 1952 and 1953 seasons.

Rosberg timed 1 minute, 27.306 seconds in the afternoon session at the 4.3-kilometer (2.6-mile) track in Sao Paulo, .225 ahead of Vettel and .286 in front of Webber, who is competing in his last F1 race at the Brazilian GP.

Johnny Walker – a partner of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 Team – has released a 90-second film showing a McLaren race car made out of 1,750 whiskey glasses to help boost its Join The Pact campaign.

The short ad was inspired by the fragility of glass, beautiful and powerful, yet so easily shattered. It features a stunning CGI model of a McLaren F1 car and a breathtaking crash scene at 300 frames per second.

“Staying in control is what matters in racing,” said two-time F1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen. “Split second decisions are the difference between finishing first and finishing last — or not finishing at all.

Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton led the way in the first practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Rosberg set his fastest lap of 1:24.781 early in the damp 90-minute session and as conditions worsened, no driver was able to bump the German from the top spot. Hamilton finished the session 0.449 seconds off the pace in second.